How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
Research
Planning
Evaluation
Construction
Web 2.0 Tools
Google Images
Youtube
Microsoft Word
Giphy
Camera - Canon 700D
Camera 2 - Iphone 7 Plus
Editing Software - Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018
Special Effects - Adobe After Effects CC 2018
Youtube
Photo Editing - Adobe Photoshop CC 2018
Acer Laptop
Apple Mac
Apple MacBook
Blogger
Coggle
Prezi
Padlet
Canon 700D
Green Screen
Premiere Pro
Youtube
Iphone 7 Plus
BBC Weather
The main part of my research was conducted through watching existing texts on Youtube. I watched a lot of well known music videos, along with some pre-made A Level ones and some less well known indie music videos. This was all done using the website Youtube, which is a video streaming site. Youtube also allowed me to download/embed the videos on my blog or convert certain clips to GIFS using another technology Giphy.
Microsoft Word was the application I used most when producing my research essays on pre-existing Music Videos. The reason I chose to use Word is that it is free, easily accessible and easy to use as we have been taught for our whole lives using this application. It also allowed for me to format my work before putting it on the blog.
Giphy is a site that lets you make yours own GIFS; either from videos you upload, pictures you have taken or existing videos on sites like Youtube. I used this to make GIFS of my pre-existing analysed Youtube videos to make my analysis more interesting and to allow me to visualise the points I was making.
Google Images is a brilliant resource that can be used to get images of anything and everything from the internet. I used it to get images for my analysis' and also to look at pre-existing DigiPaks from existing artists; like Ed Sheeran and The 1975. These DigiPaks consisted of CD cases and album/tour posters.
I tried to produce a variety of different formats during my research portion; from emazes to Prezis to Coggles and to just producing analysis on blogger in an essay format with embedded videos and GIFS. This meant that my blog had more interactivity and was more enjoyable to traverse.
I used BBC weather on my IPhone in order to check the forecast on each of our filming days as we didn't want to be filming in the rain. This worked in our favour three out of the four days; where the only case it didn't work was down to the forecast being incorrect.
For the planning stages I needed to record some location scouting and test footage. To do this I used my IPhone as there was no use bringing the large professional camera for shots that wouldn't be used in the final product. The IPhone also allowed for extremely quick and easy set-up and filming of the practice shots and provided a bit of protection against the bad weather. I also used the IPhone to take photos of the storyboard.
In the planning phase I used Youtube to look at tutorials for some of our prospective shots; ones that I didn't know how to film and/or edit. This gave a baseline to help construct the more complicated shots. I also used Youtube to upload any of the film/video planning I did; including the animated storyboard.
I used Premiere Pro to edit the animated storyboard by putting all of the images in and changing how long they were on the screen for. I also added the music to this storyboard. Premiere Pro was the best software to do this on as I already knew how to use it and as such didn't need to practice or relearn any techniques.
TFL Railways
Google Maps
During the planning stage the group decided to do some practice with the green screen in order to decide whether or not we wanted to use it in the final product. We filmed a little video of Alex walking and then edited in a background but decided it didn't look professional enough so we didn't pursue this idea into our construction phase.
A great modern technology we used during our planning stage was Whatsapp, where we created a group where we could talk as a group with each other and our actors in order to be as well organised a possible. This provided a great deal of assistance when it came down to planning the filming days and rescheduling the re shoots. It also let the group be more organised in what they were editing and how much had been done in each section.
Speaker - JBL Xtreme
Social Media
Airdrop
During the band sequence and the lip-syncing scenes we needed a way for the actors/artists to hear the song loud enough to be able to lip sync correctly to it. For this reason I decided to use my JBL Xtreme speaker which is rather loud and also waterproof (allowing us to use it on the days where the weather was worse). This also allowed us to edit to the music better; as we already had the same backing track in the background.
This was Jordan's personal computer. It was used for editing some of the DigiPak and the tour poster; which were his main tasks after the editing was complete. The adobe ssuite was still readily available on it so the programs and files could be shared between all of our group. The reason he chose to use a laptop was due to the portability of it.
I used this DSLR to film my evaluation question 3. The reasoning behind this was that I wanted a clear output video but also wanted the ability to attach my camera to a tripod; hence why I couldn't use my Iphone.
This is the Media Technology that this evaluation question is written on. I wanted to be able to convey a lot of information branching off from specific topics in one place; hence the usage of a mind map format. This web 2.0 tool also allows for the linking of websites and the addition of images; which made this evaluation question a little more interesting.
I used airdrop (an apple application) to put images and videos from the Mac computer to my Iphone; where I could then put them onto my personal computer, the Acer Laptop. Without this feature I would not have been able to work on evaluation questions unless I was using a school computer - which would greatly reduce my productivity.
We used the TFL website to inquire about filming at one of their stations, as we wanted a shot where the train would cross the screen and the character would no longer be there when the train goes past. However, we found out it costs money to get the permission and you can get fined without it. This was a very important thing to find out and would have been a major problem had we not researched into it.
When planning out filming days we used google maps to plan a route; instead of walking needlessly between locations we planned out where we would go first and last to maximise efficiency.
This website was primarily used to give me ideas on certain shots and effects we could take. Alongside this, it also helped plan what techniques we were going to use during the creation of the DigiPak - this is where I got the idea to use double exposure (which is the effect used on half of our DigiPak and our album poster).
Padlet is a block based web 2.0 tool used for presenting information. I used it when creating my answer for evaluation question 2. The reason I chose this was that I liked the layout and how I could separate everything in its own block - but could have the linked topics surrounding it.
This is a presentation application that adds a lot of effects and different slideshow templates. I used this to convey my answer for evaluation question one due to the fact it is very easy to portray a lot of information per slide (as this question was written in essay format). It also let me embed videos and pictures that could be interacted with; visualising all my points.
Blogger is the tool I have used for my whole blog due to its user friendliness for beginning and its acceptance of integration from other platforms (web 2.0 tools). It is where you are reading this right now.
This was the computer system we used as a group to edit the majority of the music video and the digipak. The reason we wanted to use this was because it offered all of the programs we needed and was also quite easy to use. The Mac we used had very good specs, giving it faster speed when editing and rendering. Alongside this it had a 4K screen which helped greatly when we were doing colour correction and photo editing.
The Canon 700D is my personal DSLR and is the camera we used to film the whole of the Music Video and to take the photos for our DigiPak. The reason I chose to use a DSLR rather than the Iphone camera was because of its additional features; especially when concerning the changing of focus, zoom and ISO - which gives out a much sharper and more professional final image. It also allowed us to experiment more with shot variety like changing depth of field in certain shots.
We edited all of the music video on this program. The reason is because I had prior experience in the program and as a result the workflow was increased as I didn't have to relearn anything. Alongside this, the program contains an avid effects panel - which helped us create effects like the zoom transition easily - something that would have been harder in something like Final Cut Pro. Also, it has an extensive colour grading section, which made the corrections we made easier to do and much easier to understand as the UI (user interface) is extremely clear).
This was the software we used to edit the scene where the house is on fire. After Effects was needed because we had to edit VFX. Whilst it was extremely complicated to use, Alex was able to produce a final product we were proud to include in our video using the wide variety of tools available in the program.
This was the program we used to create the Digipak and the posters. The main reason behind this was due to its user friendliness, the possession of prior knowledge and the fact there are many tutorials online using this program that we could learn from.
This is my personal computer and has acted as my editing machine throughout this project. Due to its high specifications it allowed me to edit fast and efficiently, emulating the abilities of the Mac as I still have all the Adobe Suite available. It was good to have a portable computer to continue work on away from school or lessons - as my location wasn't preventative to my workflow.
Youtube was a great ally during the construction stages of this project. it's main job was providing tutorials to us on specific editing techniques; such as how to letterbox or how to colour grade. This meant we could incorporate some original and outlandish ideas to our own work as we could easily learn how to do them. This was reflected in the DigiPak also as we used Youtube to research how to use both Photoshop and how to achieve a double exposure effect.
We used social media to create social media pages for the band. We used twitter to create a simple page that could handle announcements.
Whilst we used Instagram to create a feed if images; a visual representation of the band that allows an audience to link faces to the sound that the band creates.
🚆
Whilst this was used a lot less than the Canon, we decided in some cases we wanted multiple angles in a shot and didn't want to have to re shoot with the 700D. So we used a second camera to capture these shots. The IPhone 7 Plus is good because it shoots in 4K but doesn't allow for changes in focus - so the output images were not as good but could still be used.
